I'm starting to receive a lot of emails, and even messages on this forum that request advice on major, life-changing decisions ... as if, I, and the forum, holds some type of crystal ball that knows the right decision for your life, your family, and your happiness.
Do I quit my job?
Do I move across the country?
Do I build the website myself? Or outsource?
Do I risk going into business with Joe Blow or stay in school?
Do I start this business? Or that business?
Do I wipe my a$$ with scented toilet paper or not?
Do I do this?
Do I do that?
Folks, I don't know!
I can't make these decisions for you.
The forum cannot make these decisions for you.
Everyone is different
and only you know you. Some people are dealmakers. Some are introverts. Some are networkers. Some are analytical geniuses.
And yet, please understand that every decision of major consequence in your life carries with it
RISK. And yet, RISK is fundamental to the Fastlane because it is the ROAD LESS TRAVELED and often involves sacrifice, and hard-work beyond the "well-traveled" road.
You have to do what is right for YOU and what YOU think will make you happy. And guess what? For some folks, that just might be a Slowlane -- no worries -- life is about happiness and being resolute in your dreams and goals. Whatever path you take,
understand that everything extraordinary in life often involved an extraordinary risk.
If you are having trouble making a big decision in your life, I suggest you use the WADM decision matrix that I have used so many times in my life.
Got a Tough Choice? HelpMyDecision.com Helps You Make Better Decisions!
I have been HAPPY in every decision this matrix solved for me.
So to sum it up, I don't know if you should quit college.
I don't know if you should quit your job.
I don't know if you should move to another country.
I don't know if you should quit that business and start another.
I don't know if you should piss-off your parents and do what they don't want.
I don't know if you should learn how to code, or just partner.
And sadly,
the forum doesn't know if you should quit your job.
the forum doesn't know if you should move to another country.
the forum doesn't know if you should quit that business and start another.
the forum doesn't know if you should piss-off your parents and do what they don't want.
the forum doesn't know if you should learn how to code, or just partner.
While I'm flattered that I am asked about such big decisions, my answers are automatically BIASED based on my life experience. The forum responds in the same fashion.
This does not guarantee you will get a good answer based on what is best for YOU.
Take a deep breath, and ask yourself ... What is going to make me happy not just this week, but over the long term? Should you be blessed with another 40 years of life, is this the path you want to take? And remember, not all of life is rainbows and unicorns, the challenging path is the path of growth.
As for my take on decisions, you should already know what my answer will be ... the Fastlane path. But again, that is ME.
I am not you.
You may possess other strengths, talents, and attributes that make the other answer, BETTER.
Good luck and happy decision-making!
Alright guys, I haven’t been on here in a while because I’ve had a lot going on recently (unfortunately, it’s been job related, and not so much my own entrepreneurial endeavors). What I’m about to share here some of you may not agree with, and perhaps you’d be in the right. Others of you may think what I did was acceptable and okay, maybe even the right move (me)?
As someone who has only recently had my cherry popped, as far as discovering the Fastlane goes, I’ve really become fascinated with the idea of becoming a young millionaire. Right now, I guess you could say I’m in the learning phase of doing what I want to do, and I don’t plan on making any kind of money for at least a year.
I’ve always been in love with the idea of just quitting your job and going for whatever it is you want to go for. I guess that’s why I made this crazy decision.
You see, I’m in the Navy, and it’s hard being in the Navy and ALSO being a member of the Fastlane Forum.
All these ideas I hear on the forum about being free, doing whatever the F*ck you want, and breaking out of the slavery of the slow lane, they’re enough to make you lick your lips with lust.
The Navy is the epitome of the slow lane. How many times a day do I hear: “it’s a steady paycheck, 401K (they call it the Thrift Saving Plan in the Navy), benefits, security, can’t wait until Friday.”
You can imagine, I walk through the ship cringing quite often. Some people I really try to get through to, because I see potential in them, I see them being one of you guys, but others? It’s pointless.
They think
I’M crazy for not wanting to Re-Enlist, “what are you going to do for money? Will you have free Medical like you do in the military?”
Anyway, it got to the point where it just became too much. It’s almost impossible to get anything done in the Navy. Just when you start to get something going, like making phone calls to build a buyers list, writing a first novel, or taking a marketing course online, you have to go out to sea for two weeks to a month.
In port, outside of the regular work week, you have to stand a duty day on the ship, which will fall on a Saturday and a Sunday twice a month. So for an ENTIRE day, you can’t leave the ship (if you do you’re in big trouble).
If you value your time, this will kill you inside. There’s no internet on the ship, and shitty cell phone service. I’ll usually just spend any free time I have—which is very little—writing my novel or reading a book. But most of the time, I have to do it in short bursts because I’ll get tasked with some menial task like taking out my Department Head’s trash.
For two years I put up with this shit. Going out to sea, duty days, shitty food, four hour watches at two in the morning, thousands of ridiculous rules, saluting pencil dick officers, taking orders from retards, and being bombarded like an ISIS cave, with slow lane mentality. On top of that, they recently extended our working hours.
After two years of going out to sea, and even a seven month long deployment to the Middle East, I finally said I had enough.
It was the last underway of the year, after that we wouldn’t be going out to sea again for six months because we’d be going to the ship yards, which is where the ship goes through a long period of serious repair.
When I woke up that morning, I had no idea that I was going to do what I was going to do. When I got to the ship, I hated everyone’s faces, just
looking at them made me angry. There were full grown men who outranked me, acting like they were middle schoolers, it was HOT, it was humid, and there was toxic smoke all throughout the air. A girl I had asked out the Friday before, who had told me no, had spread the word to her friends, and they were all giggling.
Finally, just as I was standing there fuming, someone came up to me and said:
“Sins (not my real last name lol), go take out the trash.”
That was it.
“With pleasure,” I said.
The ship was about to leave in an hour, it was now or never. I grabbed my laptop, the only thing I needed, stuffed it into the garbage bag (so I wouldn’t arouse suspicion), and walked off the ship.
At this point, there was no plan, other than doing something so crazy, it would get me kicked out of the military.
I booked a plane ticket to Aruba, and left the next day. I picked up some weed while I was there. It was a really nice time. My trip there consisted of reading, writing my novel, taking a copywriting course, diving, going to the beach, talking to some local girls (didn’t get laid unfortunately), and smoking a shit load of weed.
I had to come back though. Being gone for 30 days would have made me a deserter, which can get you in BIG trouble. I just did my 10 days, and came back to the ship. That was the hardest part.
I got a lot of different reactions when I got back:
“Dude, that’s the most savage story I’ve ever heard!”
“What the hell were you thinking?” They’d say, shaking their heads. “You’re going to be a bum when you get out.” Well, they didn’t say those EXACT words lol, but the way they said it, you could tell that’s what they meant.
Others didn’t think it was my smartest move, but knew I would “excel”—to quote one of my good friends—on the outside.
Finally, I had to face the Captain. Apparently, the whole ship was looking for me because they thought I had gone overboard. So, the Captain gave me 45 days of Restriction, which is pretty much extra chores and dirty work, I can’t leave the ship, I can’t use any electronic devices, I have to muster up in uniform 6 times a day, I’m surrounded by a bunch of delinquents, and I have to wear this red badge across my chest. On top of that, he bumped me down in rank, and cut THAT pay in half for a month. AND…I’m getting kicked out of the military with an Other Than Honorable Discharge. I want to say “ouch,” but that was the plan all along, stupid or not.
So that’s where I’m at now. I’ve managed to sneak onto a computer and write this because I’m still on my 4th day of Restriction. I’ll be getting kicked to the curb, and processed out in roughly two months. With the money I have saved up I can go anywhere in the world.
I may have to work a job until I can get my ideas off the ground (I actually have a really profitable idea I’ve been working on for a while now, more to come later on that), but no job would be a fraction of how bad this job was.
So there it is. I managed to quit my job in the military, and will be hungry and on the streets soon enough with my Other Than Honorable Discharge.
I actually wanted to ask your guys’ opinion about this BEFORE I did it, because I had been entertaining the idea for a while, I just had no idea I would actually do it.
However, after reading MJ’s post about making your own decisions, and not counting on other people to make them for you, especially the big ones, I knew that I was the only one who could make this call. After all, I’m the only one who really knows my situation.
So far, I believe I’ve made the right decision. Why? Because I’d do it again if the Captain changed his mind.
Anyhow, what are your thoughts? Good or bad, just be honest.
